Japan Trip Part 2
May. 14th, 2007 09:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rkoldAnd now for part 2!
Sunday was the start of sightseeing and in particular trying to see things my husband might enjoy. This mostly involved trying to track down Sangaku featuring math problems. The problem with the previous website is they say a shrine's name, e.g. Tenman-gu, not not where in Hyogo Prefecture Tenman-gu is located. Plus some shrines have their sangaku on display while others do not. Our first attempt was Nagaoka Tenman-gu. A lovely shrine just outside of Kyoto famous for its 150 year old azalea bushes as well. Since we were planning a trip to Kyoto, it of course was raining, again. The azaleas were past their peak, but still very pretty and the iris and water lilies were just starting. We also managed to actually find some sangaku! High on our first success we went to Kyoto proper and tracked down Kitano Tenman-gu. There we were once again successful. Our final attempt was Yasaka-jinja in Gion, whose sangaku were sadly closed to the public. We made sure to return early, as the next day we had more big plans.
Monday was my husband's birthday. We decided to start it with a trip to Okayama to see the gardens. I'd been several years before, but it was early Fall I believe so none of the flowers were in bloom. This trip was full of color as well as small school children and older Japanese sketching. After a few hours at the garden we decided to attempt something I thought my husband would enjoy and I've always wanted to do, bicycling the Kibi Plain. Unfortunately, the map they give you for free was very bad to say the least. I'm pretty sure we spent the first quarter of the trip completely lost, though we did get to see a really interesting shinto shrine which had some of the biggest koi I've ever seen. We also got to see some famous path through a peony garden, since I kept seeing it on JR advertisements. We attempted to follow the map and got more lost until we came to a very busy road. I was just losing hope when I saw a sign announcing the Kibi Bicycle trail. Yatta! After that, we ignored the map completely and just paid attention for the signs saying the Kibi Bicycle Trail and Soja, the station which ended our adventure, some 16 KMs from where we started. This new trail was pedestrian/bicycle only and much more fun to ride on. Though my rental bicycle totally sucked and was no where near as nice as the ones I've rented with Jenn. We bicycled through rice fields, past giant burial mounds and picnicked in front of a pagoda in the middle of nowhere. Eventually we made it to Soja, only to get lost trying to find the train station. I eventually had to ask for directions, well all right I had to ask a few times, but we did make it and caught a rapid train back to Okayama where we transferred back to Shin-Osaka. One thing to note, that while there seem to be much fewer Hikari between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka then there use to be (in 2002 the new 700 series were Hikari and there use to be a few direct Hikari to Hiroshima) the RailStar Hikari between Shin Osaka and Fukuoka seem incredibly popular and have gotten upgrades!
Tuesday, our last full day in Japan, we decided to search for sangaku in Hyogo Prefecture. Our destinations were the cities of: Itami, Sanda, Takasago, and Nishinomiya. Itami was first, and is not just the home of a domestic airport but also the home of an actual mall, like the type here in the US. A mall with a Toys R Us, an amazing bakery, and lots of stores with Japanese clothes I wish I fitted in. Our shrine however did not have any sangaku that we could find, though I saw more turtles in one space than I've ever seen anywhere else. Our next stop was Sanda. The train ride was very pretty and we went past Takarazuka, but the shrine we wanted to find was about 15 minutes by local train further and it was already starting to get late. So we turned back around and headed to Takasago, an almost inaka city just past Kakogawa and not so far from Himeji. Takasago is famous for having one of the 3 great mysteries of Japan a rock that appears to float in a small pond. It was enshrined 1200 years ago and also happened to be a shrine with some sangaku! We took a cab from the station, as it was too far to walk, and thankfully the cab driver left us with a business card with the cab company's phone number. We then took a cab too Takasago jinja which proved rather costly. We found the sangaku there and walked back to the Hankyu station deciding it was much faster and easier than trying to get back to the JR one. The train went directly to Nishinomiya, home to the stadium where the Hanshin Tigers play. Hankyuu Nishinomiya was much closer to Nishinomiya jinja, but despite fast walking and the last 10 minutes of sunshine, we couldn't find any sangaku. Our trip to JR Nishinomiya also proved rather difficult. We could see the tracks only a few blocks away, but the station proved quite a bit further and I was tired and ready to go home. After walking what felt like the entire way to Amagaski, we made it and caught a train. Upon returning to our room we spent the next few hours packing. For once, it was relatively easy and we had plenty of room.
Wednesday, we spent the morning doing last minute shopping. I'd forgotten to buy several things I wanted and we dashed about through Shinsaibashi and Namba trying to get them, as well as mailing out some MSC via sea mail to myself. Our flight back proved rather bumpy, which is never fun, and something I ate rather disagreed with me making the frequent periods with the seatbelt sign lighted most unfun. We arrived in SFO, made it through Customs and Immigration, and went over to a counter to try standby for an earlier flight. Since I had turned in miles for my husband's ticket, we had been forced to take a 4:00 pm fligt to NY. It was currently 9:45 am. Our suitcases were ticked for the 10:45 am flight and we went to the counter to see if we would get lucky. Right after section 1 was boarded our names were called! We weren't sitting together but 10:45 vs. 4:00 as a flight time, well it was obvious what we would pick. We arrived in NY as did 1 of our suitcases, the other still being in transit from CA. ~.~ We had to fill out a form, though it did arrive safely today.
It's odd coming home again, and I missed my bed so much. Japanese beds and pillows just do not compare!
Nagaoka Tenman-gu and the 150 year old azaleas
Sangaku! These date from 1790. ^_^
Utako at Tenshi no Sato
Sangaku located in Kitano Tenman-gu from 1878
Random non-Math Sangaku from Kitano Tenman-gu
Utako at Koraku-en in Okayama
Carp banners for Boy's/Children's Day at Kibitsuhiko Jinja (I was never quite sure which shrine was which >>;) Notice the cars for scale.
Bitchu Kokubun-ji dating from the 16th Century and near the end of the bicycle path.
More turtles tan I've ever seen in one place at one time (Inano Jinja)
Japan, in a nutshell to me. lol
Sangaku at Ohshiko Jinja, home of one of the "3 Great Mysteries" (sangaku dating from 1876)
The corner of the famous floating stone. BTW you can't tell scale, but the thing is HUGE and really does look like it is floating.
Sangaku from Takasago jinja from 2000
I just loved the way the marine life was drawn in this do no pollute sign lol
Sunday was the start of sightseeing and in particular trying to see things my husband might enjoy. This mostly involved trying to track down Sangaku featuring math problems. The problem with the previous website is they say a shrine's name, e.g. Tenman-gu, not not where in Hyogo Prefecture Tenman-gu is located. Plus some shrines have their sangaku on display while others do not. Our first attempt was Nagaoka Tenman-gu. A lovely shrine just outside of Kyoto famous for its 150 year old azalea bushes as well. Since we were planning a trip to Kyoto, it of course was raining, again. The azaleas were past their peak, but still very pretty and the iris and water lilies were just starting. We also managed to actually find some sangaku! High on our first success we went to Kyoto proper and tracked down Kitano Tenman-gu. There we were once again successful. Our final attempt was Yasaka-jinja in Gion, whose sangaku were sadly closed to the public. We made sure to return early, as the next day we had more big plans.
Monday was my husband's birthday. We decided to start it with a trip to Okayama to see the gardens. I'd been several years before, but it was early Fall I believe so none of the flowers were in bloom. This trip was full of color as well as small school children and older Japanese sketching. After a few hours at the garden we decided to attempt something I thought my husband would enjoy and I've always wanted to do, bicycling the Kibi Plain. Unfortunately, the map they give you for free was very bad to say the least. I'm pretty sure we spent the first quarter of the trip completely lost, though we did get to see a really interesting shinto shrine which had some of the biggest koi I've ever seen. We also got to see some famous path through a peony garden, since I kept seeing it on JR advertisements. We attempted to follow the map and got more lost until we came to a very busy road. I was just losing hope when I saw a sign announcing the Kibi Bicycle trail. Yatta! After that, we ignored the map completely and just paid attention for the signs saying the Kibi Bicycle Trail and Soja, the station which ended our adventure, some 16 KMs from where we started. This new trail was pedestrian/bicycle only and much more fun to ride on. Though my rental bicycle totally sucked and was no where near as nice as the ones I've rented with Jenn. We bicycled through rice fields, past giant burial mounds and picnicked in front of a pagoda in the middle of nowhere. Eventually we made it to Soja, only to get lost trying to find the train station. I eventually had to ask for directions, well all right I had to ask a few times, but we did make it and caught a rapid train back to Okayama where we transferred back to Shin-Osaka. One thing to note, that while there seem to be much fewer Hikari between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka then there use to be (in 2002 the new 700 series were Hikari and there use to be a few direct Hikari to Hiroshima) the RailStar Hikari between Shin Osaka and Fukuoka seem incredibly popular and have gotten upgrades!
Tuesday, our last full day in Japan, we decided to search for sangaku in Hyogo Prefecture. Our destinations were the cities of: Itami, Sanda, Takasago, and Nishinomiya. Itami was first, and is not just the home of a domestic airport but also the home of an actual mall, like the type here in the US. A mall with a Toys R Us, an amazing bakery, and lots of stores with Japanese clothes I wish I fitted in. Our shrine however did not have any sangaku that we could find, though I saw more turtles in one space than I've ever seen anywhere else. Our next stop was Sanda. The train ride was very pretty and we went past Takarazuka, but the shrine we wanted to find was about 15 minutes by local train further and it was already starting to get late. So we turned back around and headed to Takasago, an almost inaka city just past Kakogawa and not so far from Himeji. Takasago is famous for having one of the 3 great mysteries of Japan a rock that appears to float in a small pond. It was enshrined 1200 years ago and also happened to be a shrine with some sangaku! We took a cab from the station, as it was too far to walk, and thankfully the cab driver left us with a business card with the cab company's phone number. We then took a cab too Takasago jinja which proved rather costly. We found the sangaku there and walked back to the Hankyu station deciding it was much faster and easier than trying to get back to the JR one. The train went directly to Nishinomiya, home to the stadium where the Hanshin Tigers play. Hankyuu Nishinomiya was much closer to Nishinomiya jinja, but despite fast walking and the last 10 minutes of sunshine, we couldn't find any sangaku. Our trip to JR Nishinomiya also proved rather difficult. We could see the tracks only a few blocks away, but the station proved quite a bit further and I was tired and ready to go home. After walking what felt like the entire way to Amagaski, we made it and caught a train. Upon returning to our room we spent the next few hours packing. For once, it was relatively easy and we had plenty of room.
Wednesday, we spent the morning doing last minute shopping. I'd forgotten to buy several things I wanted and we dashed about through Shinsaibashi and Namba trying to get them, as well as mailing out some MSC via sea mail to myself. Our flight back proved rather bumpy, which is never fun, and something I ate rather disagreed with me making the frequent periods with the seatbelt sign lighted most unfun. We arrived in SFO, made it through Customs and Immigration, and went over to a counter to try standby for an earlier flight. Since I had turned in miles for my husband's ticket, we had been forced to take a 4:00 pm fligt to NY. It was currently 9:45 am. Our suitcases were ticked for the 10:45 am flight and we went to the counter to see if we would get lucky. Right after section 1 was boarded our names were called! We weren't sitting together but 10:45 vs. 4:00 as a flight time, well it was obvious what we would pick. We arrived in NY as did 1 of our suitcases, the other still being in transit from CA. ~.~ We had to fill out a form, though it did arrive safely today.
It's odd coming home again, and I missed my bed so much. Japanese beds and pillows just do not compare!
Nagaoka Tenman-gu and the 150 year old azaleas
Sangaku! These date from 1790. ^_^
Utako at Tenshi no Sato
Sangaku located in Kitano Tenman-gu from 1878
Random non-Math Sangaku from Kitano Tenman-gu
Utako at Koraku-en in Okayama
Carp banners for Boy's/Children's Day at Kibitsuhiko Jinja (I was never quite sure which shrine was which >>;) Notice the cars for scale.
Bitchu Kokubun-ji dating from the 16th Century and near the end of the bicycle path.
More turtles tan I've ever seen in one place at one time (Inano Jinja)
Japan, in a nutshell to me. lol
Sangaku at Ohshiko Jinja, home of one of the "3 Great Mysteries" (sangaku dating from 1876)
The corner of the famous floating stone. BTW you can't tell scale, but the thing is HUGE and really does look like it is floating.
Sangaku from Takasago jinja from 2000
I just loved the way the marine life was drawn in this do no pollute sign lol
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-14 02:35 pm (UTC)Thanks for sharing all your great pictures. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-14 02:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-14 03:21 pm (UTC)Lin is sooooooo adorable. I hope I hear good news from the lottery today :/ I've already prepared myself to sell SwD Anne for her.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-14 09:22 pm (UTC)I was never very into Math, but the sangaku are just fascinating, I always like the non-Math ones. I have a ton of pictures of those.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-14 09:30 pm (UTC)I'm not surprised Lin sold out first... she cost a lot less :)
(Don't reply to this reply please... I might have a heart attack x.x)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-15 03:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-14 04:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-14 09:24 pm (UTC)BTW sent you a postcard :P
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-15 02:55 am (UTC)Aaaaalso, thanks for the postcard! <333
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-20 01:14 pm (UTC)I really love sightseeing, I feel like trips where I don't make it out of Tokyo leave me feeling a little down. It was fun the very first time I did Tokyo only, but each progressive trip where I only saw Tokyo left me feeling a little empty. At times things were frustrating and I would definitely recommend cycling from Soja rather than where we started, but the trip itself was really nice.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-20 04:46 pm (UTC)Ahh, yeah~ Sightseeing can be really fun! I'm glad you got to do it on this trip! Bicycling sounds like a lot of fun~
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-16 11:07 pm (UTC)I'm so glad you had a good time!
I know I was very happy to be back in my bed once upon a time when I got back from my trip to Japan.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-20 01:19 pm (UTC)I've been hoping to take my Yos to the Botanical Gardens, but the weather has been less than impressive lately.
I don't think I've ever seen so many turtles in one place. The shrine itself was rather run down, but the turtles seemed very content. ^_^